A simple improved protocol for purification of C-phycocyanin from overproducing cyanobacteria and its characterization

C-phycocyanin (C-PC), an algal biopigment, has a fairly big market demand in food and other industries including pharmaceuticals for its valuable properties. However, its application in diverse fields is affected by the cost associated with its production and downstream processing. Most of the present studies are focussed on improvement in C-PC biosynthetic capacity of existing commercial strain, Arthrospira platensis ; nonetheless, many cyanobacterial strains might present in nature that can naturally produce C-PC in high amount. The current study aimed at selecting high C-PC producer from diverse cyanobacteria isolated from different regions of India. Three cyanobacteria that stood out to be high producers are Phormidium sp. CCC317, Plectonema sp. CCC316 and Phormidium sp. CCC112 with C-PC contents of 191.1 ± 4.42, 158.1 ± 4.13 and 140.6 ± 4.04 mg g −1 cell dry weight, respectively. The results were significant, and Phormidium sp. CCC317 has shown C-PC production comparable to A. platensis under normal growth condition. Further, a simple improved purification protocol employing weak anion exchanger and two NaCl concentrations (0.12 and 0.18 M) yielded analytical grade purity (A 620 /A 280 ratio) of 5.56 and 5.63 with 56.41% and 32.41% C-PC recovery for Phormidium sp. CCC317 and Plectonema sp. CCC316, respectively. Interestingly, analytical grade purity of 4.25 with 95.32% recovery was obtained in Phormidium sp. CCC317 with only (NH 4 ) 2 SO 4 precipitation which can reduce the pigment production cost remarkably. Higher antioxidant activity of purified C-PC of both isolates is further attributed to their source of isolation. Hence, this work highlights the importance of better strain and its commercial prospect for C-PC production securing good recovery and higher purity.